Social Responsibilities of Science

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The basic definition of social responsibility is the idea that people have a purpose to be responsible when it comes to their place in the world. Instead of promoting negative ideas, actions, or circumstances, one should be able to give back to society in a constructive manner. One is not forced to be socially responsible but does so out of the goodness of one’s heart and mind (Wikipedia, 2007). When it comes to scientific social responsibility, a scientist’s responsibility is to not release scientific innovations that are detrimental to the state of the world, which would be considered irresponsibility.

People who are scientifically socially responsible do things such as refuse to work on the development of nuclear bombs or other mass-devastation weapons. Sue Mayer was a British scientist, who, upon learning that a team she was invited to join would be working on developing bacterial weapons, resigned from the laboratory she worked at, giving up much of her career for the sake of her own moral beliefs and the pursuit of social responsibility. There are also records of people refusing to work on projects dealing with genetically modified foods or DNA modification (Ryans, 1999). These boycotts can be accomplished by individuals or organizations, even by governments and corporations.

There are many organizations that promote scientific social responsibility. Some of the focuses of these organizations center on ethics, positive design, peace, and the improvement of the environment. With these goals, they support scientific social responsibility in ways that improve our world as we know it, and certainly effect our earth in a positive manner. Some of these organizations are Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR), The Institute of Science in Society (ISIS), Pugwash, and the International Network of Engineers and Scientists (INES), among many others.

SGR claims that many scientists today are using their intelligence in irresponsible ways, causing the majority of the problems in the world. The risks of irresponsible science are very high–theoretically, irresponsible scientists could someday destroy the world, and isn’t the point of science to preserve life? SGR’s goal is to wield science in a positive manner and to eradicate negative science in this way. Essentially, SGR is fighting science with science in order to ensure a better future for us (Scientists for Global Responsibility, 2007).

Pugwash is a global conference which lets many scholars and other intellectuals around the world meet to discuss solutions for irresponsible science. The difference between Pugwash and other global conferences is that instead of each person being a representative of one’s country, the person is a representative of one’s own self, thoughts, and opinions. This gets more done when it comes to actual action, and it certainly doesn’t hurt that many of these intellectuals also have a lot of governmental and public influence, which means that many ideas brought up from the conference actually do get implemented and do not remain simply ideas, going nowhere (Pugwash, 2007).

The Nobel Peace Prize was given to Pugwash in 1995 because of their good work when it came to promoting social responsibility. Pugwash’s goals are to “abolish all nuclear weapons,” “eliminate the dangers . . . [of] chemical and biological weapons,” “reverse the conditions of environmental deterioration,” and to “eliminate the incidence of war” (Pugwash, 2007) among many other things. By bringing together scientists and other intellectuals from around the world, Pugwash makes large strides to accomplish these goals, or at least come closer to accomplishing them.

ISIS is a non-profit organization similar to Pugwash, but minus solely working through conferences. It encourages scientists and “regular” people alike to be directly involved in open and fruitful discussions about social responsibility. The main focus of ISIS appears to be a heavy involvement in the GM (Genetically Modified foods) debate. They created the “Open Letter from World Scientists to All Governments Concerning Genetically Modified Organisms.” This letter addresses ISIS’ thoughts on the banning of GM products and processes, and explains why this is a socially responsible thing to do. The letter calls for a boycott of GM products and calls for a move towards a positive and healthy world. ISIS has other missions as well, such as to make science accessible to anyone, regardless of bias, to move back towards nature, and to focus on the humanistic side of science in general. These are but a few of the many goals of ISIS (Institute of Science in Society, 2007).

With the assistance of these organizations and other individuals simply following their morals and doing the right thing, hopefully one day we can expect the elimination of negative scientific processes. We can help by getting involved in these organizations, even in the smallest way, or help in general, small ways. Our social responsibility does not necessarily have to only be limited to science, but can extend to other areas as well, hopefully making our world better in the long run than we could ever imagine.

Works Cited

Institute of Science in Society. (2007). About ISIS. Institute of Science in Society. Retrieved November 7, 2007 from http://www.i-sis.org.uk.

Pugwash. (2007). About Pugwash. In Pugwash Online. Retrieved November 7, 2007 from http://www.pugwash.org.

Ryan, Angela. (1999). Maurice Wilkins Talks on Social Responsibility in Science. Institute of Science in Society. Retrieved November 7, 2007 from http://www.i-sis.org.uk/wilkins.php.

Scientists for Global Responsibility. (2007). Why SGR? In Scientists for Global Responsibility. Retrieved November 7, 2007 from http://www.sgr.org.uk.

Wikipedia. (2007). Social Responsibility. Wikipedia. Retrieved November 7, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_responsibility